Sunil Gavaskar picks his most memorable cricketing moment and century
Sunil Gavaskar has picked his most memorable moment and century from his long and illustrious career.
The Little Master, as he is fondly called, completed 50 years of association with international cricket on March 6. The batting maestro made his Test debut against the West Indies in 1971 on that day.
During an interaction on Star Sports, VVS Laxman asked Sunil Gavaskar to name the most memorable century and moment in his career.
The septuagenarian picked the Indian team's title-winning run under Kapil Dev in the 1983 World Cup as his most cherished moment.
"The most memorable moment is when we won the World Cup in 1983. There cannot be a better moment than that because when your team wins the World Cup it seems you have done something different and that moment is the most important and memorable one for me," said Gavaskar.
Apart from being part of the 1983 World Cup-winning team, Sunil Gavaskar also captained India to the title in the 1985 World Championship of Cricket.
My fifth century is the most memorable one for me: Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar named his fifth Test century as the most memorable one for him as it came after a lean patch.
"If you talk about my century, then the 5th century I scored is the most memorable one for me. My first four centuries were scored in my maiden series itself and after that I had not scored many runs in the next two to three years," said Gavaskar.
The cricketer-turned-commentator reasoned he had started to think if the remarkable performance in his debut series was just a flash in the pan and stated that the knock restored his confidence.
"I had started to doubt myself if what had happened three years ago was a fluke and sometimes that also happens. My fifth century was in the Old Trafford ground at Manchester, it was a green pitch, it was raining and to score a hundred on that pitch got me my confidence back. Since it was a century of struggle, it is the most memorable one for me," concluded Gavaskar.
Sunil Gavaskar scored 774 runs in the four Tests of his debut series against the West Indies, including four centuries. However, he failed to cross the three-figure mark in his next eight Tests against England - three away and five at home.
The opener put all doubts to rest by scoring 101 runs in India's first innings of the maiden Test of their tour of England in 1974. He followed that up with a half-century in the second essay as well, but could not help India avoid defeat in the encounter.
Sunil Gavaskar scored a total of 35 centuries in his international career. 34 of these came in Test cricket (which was a record at the time), while a solitary ton was scored in the ODI format.